Funders have been some of the biggest champions of making publication of research faster and more accessible. The latest push supports “preprinting” life sciences research ahead of journal publication.

Looking back at the year in science philanthropy, there were a lot of big stories, but none as pervasive as the influx of cash going to work that leverages large amounts of data. We look at the highlights.

Funding math research is a murky business. It can take decades for such work to change life on the ground. One near-term metric is who's winning the Fields Prize. The Simons Foundation has already backed two winners.

The recent $50 million gift to establish Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory’s new research center is being called a “transformative” sum that will allow expanded work in quantitative biology. But it didn't happen overnight. The gift is the culmination of years of work the lab has done in the field, as well as ongoing funding from Jim and Marilyn Simons.

The Simons Foundation, one of the country’s largest science research funders, has a mission of promoting a deeper understanding of the world. About four kilometers deep, to be exact, since the foundation just launched a huge new initiative to advance knowledge of the ocean's microbial ecosystems.

The Simons Foundation released its list of "Simons Investigator" grant recipients today. Investigators qualify for an annual stipend of $100,000 and an additional $32,000 that goes to their university. The fellows and their departments come under review after five years; they can potentially rack up as much as $1.32 million if they qualify.